Tahir Aripov

Tahir Fatykhovich Aripov (Uzbek: Tohir Oripov) was born on 7 September 1945 in Tashkent. In 1970 he graduated from Tashkent State University, now the National University of Uzbekistan. He is a biophysicist, a science administrator and a public figure.

He did his research at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan, as a researcher and head of a laboratory, and later directed the academy’s Institute of Microbiology. A Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and Doctor of Biological Sciences, he was elected an academician of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan in 1995. He is a member of the International Academy of Science, Technology and Education (USA).

His research concerns the biospectroscopy of protein interactions with biomembranes and the mechanisms by which cytotoxins act on models of biological membranes. He is the author of more than 100 scientific works, including 12 inventions, and has trained three doctors and more than ten candidates of sciences.

Beyond the laboratory he served as chairman of the Higher Attestation Commission under the Cabinet of Ministers, as State Adviser to the President of Uzbekistan and as a vice-president of the Academy of Sciences. From 23 November 2005 to 12 March 2006 he was acting president of the academy. According to official decrees, he has also headed a laboratory at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry in recent years.

He received the Order “Mehnat shuhrati” in 2003. On 24 August 2024, for the 33rd anniversary of independence, he was awarded the Order “Do‘stlik”, and on 5 September 2025, on his 80th birthday and for his contribution to science and the training of young researchers, the honorary title “Honoured Youth Mentor of Uzbekistan”.